Resolution
by ophelia2007
Summary: Veronica disappeared a couple of months after the PiSig party, without a word to anyone. This takes place sixteen years later. Eventual LoVe. Rated T for language. feedback always appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Resolution  
Author: ophelia2007  
Pairing: LoVe. Eventually.  
Summary: A few months after solving the Hearst rape mystery, Veronica disappeared from Hearst and Neptune. Sixteen years on, someone finally finds her. Unfortunately, some things have changed.  
Rating: T, just for language.  
Disclaimer: basically, I own nothing. I really really wish I did though. We would've seen Angry!Logan! in a cell with Mercer if I owned something. And LoVe would just be permanent, with no glitches, flaws or imperfections. Ohhhh how I wish I owned something. sob  
A/N: The only thing that differs between this fic and the show (up to 3.09) is that Mercer did rape Veronica. But you don't really need to know that yet. Oh, and I don't like this first chapter much. It's more of a scene-setting thing. Next chapter better. Promise.

**Chapter** **One**

"Breakfast time, honey!" Veronica screamed to the sixteen year old who was just waking upstairs.  
There was a five minute delay before Lilly Mars dawdled downstairs, dressed in tight jeans and a low-cut top. Veronica almost laughed when she saw her – the similarities between her daughter and her namesake were often more than coincidental, and somewhat disconcerting.  
"Come on, eat then school," she urged, though she knew her daughter needed no encouragement. Within three minutes, the pile of pancakes and lagoon of maple syrup had been consumed, and Lilly could be seen acting as a whirlwind: storming to her bedroom to find her school books, then back down stairs to find her car keys, before disappearing behind a cloud of dirty exhaust fumes as she drove to school.

Veronica, in contrast, spent more time with breakfast, showered and arrived at her office with twenty minutes to spare before her nine o'clock appointment. She passed her neon sign declaring "Mars", one of the only similarities between her father's and her own offices. The main difference was their location: Keith's back in Neptune, Veronica's in Seattle. Though she had originally only seen being a PI to last until the end of her college days, those days had ended before she had finished her course. Eventually being a full time PI had sufficed.

Sixteen years later, she had set up a series of offices, each time training an apprentice, of sorts. The arrangement had suited her: she had a successful, nationwide business, and she was able to move locations when she became bored or unhappy in the place she was. The only place she never returned to was, naturally, Neptune.

Though it was a frequent cause of friction between her and her father, Keith was aware that Neptune may not be the best place for either his daughter or granddaughter. News had always travelled quickly in the small Californian town, especially when it concerned the Mars family. Sixteen years ago, 2007, his daughter had 'mysteriously' disappeared after being involved in solving the Hearst rape crimes. Neither her friends nor boyfriend had any idea as to where she had gone. Keith's little girl had run to him as soon as she found out. She was eighteen and pregnant.

Most wouldn't mind continuing their college education and carrying a child. Veronica had been adamant: she'd only do one and she'd have the baby. It had half broken Keith's heart, and half made him the proudest, happiest father in the world to witness his only daughter deciding to follow his profession and become a mother.

It hadn't taken Veronica long to leave Neptune, either. She grew tired of hearing her father explain that his daughter wasn't there, and she moved to her own apartment two hours away, four months into her pregnancy. She lived modestly, and managed to do a little of the light, simple work for her father. She saved all the money she could, so that she was able to move.

Wisconsin was the chosen destination. After renting the smallest, cheapest office she could, Veronica set up Mars Incorporated. Though business was slow to begin with, she eventually became swamped and took on an apprentice. From there, her very own PI company had taken off.

Now, she was here: thirty five, her own house in the 'nice' side of town. Her daughter, her pride and joy, was happy, popular and studious. She thought of a time where she herself had been in that situation: sweet sixteen and untouchable. It was a beautiful place to be, and she hoped that history would never repeat itself.

She eyed her surroundings. Her décor was completely different to her father's: clean, cream walls and blue comfy chairs were features. It was sleek but not unfriendly, and she was pleased. She glanced at the large silver clock on the wall. 8.55, she had five minutes to check who wanted her services and make a bet with herself as to what he wanted.

She looked at the man's name twice. Dan Nanucke. It sounded foreign in some way, perhaps European. Maybe he was looking for a family member, someone he had lost. She logged on to PryingEyez to run his name through the database, looking for obvious people he'd want to find. Her confused state occurred when she could find him nowhere. She looked at the name again. Dan Nanucke. It seemed foreign, yet somehow very familiar.

She was about to dig a little deeper when the door to her main office opened. Immediately she looked up, wondering who this apparently non-existent man was. Upon first glance, he was everything she had once left behind: bleached blonde hair, tanned skin, shell necklace, board shorts. Yes, here stood a prime specimen of a surfer. What was a surfer doing in Seattle?!

"I'm looking for someone. Is this the right place?" The thick Australian accent threw her, both because she was expecting an American, and because this may well be the reason he couldn't be found on PryingEyez. Quickly she regained her composure.  
"Unlikely. There are well over six billion people in the world. Your odds for finding the right person by complete chance are about... a googolplex to one," she smiled. "Who you looking for?"  
"Veronica Mars," he stated simply.  
"Woah. You're the luckiest man alive and that was my easiest job ever. You got me," she flashed a smile again, trying to put the nervous-looking man at ease. "You would be Mr Nanucke, I assume? Can I get you a coffee?"  
"Please, Mrs Mars, call me Dan. And thank you but no."  
"Technically, I'm Miss Mars; but please, call me Veronica. Have a seat and let's talk about why you're here," she signalled to the chair facing her desk.  
"So my friend, Hansel, his girlfriend disappeared. In short, I need her found," Dan shrugged.  
Veronica smiled, "Okay. I need you to give me as much detail about both her and him as you can. Where and when was she last seen? Are the police involved?"  
Her client looked sheepish, "They're not, no. She went missing a little over sixteen years ago. My friend's name is Hansel Cogoll. Unfortunately, I know very little about her."  
"I see. Why's that? And why, if you don't mind me asking, are you looking for her now?" Veronica was to say the least, utterly confused.  
"I've been living in Australia for nearly twenty years. And Hansel… well, he's in denial. He doesn't want to admit that the reason he hasn't had a relationship since is that this girl hurt him so much. I'd just like to find her, so he can hear what happened and why it happened from her side. Right now, he just blames himself…" he trailed off, feeling guilty for making his friend sound so pathetic. Veronica just nodded, trying to understand.  
"That doesn't really explain why you're looking now…"  
"One of our friends is having a "30th" birthday party. She's invited our whole senior year. It would mean so much to Hansel if he could just take her as his date, or see her there. Just so he knows she's okay," Dan smiled weakly.  
"Is there any way I can meet with Mr Cogoll?" Veronica asked, hopefully.  
"Not really. He doesn't often leave his house. He used to be the life and soul, y'know? Now he barely even has a soul."  
"What about family? Parents, siblings…?"  
"Her mom disappeared years ago. Her dad is, I'm told, vastly overprotective of our daughter and won't say a word to anyone about her," Dan shrugged. "I'm sorry, I'm not much help."  
"Don't worry, I've solved cases on less information than this. What about old school friends?"  
"There was this one guy. Here, I have his details. And this girl," he handed two business cards to Veronica, who took them both with barely a glance.  
"Thanks, Mr Nanucke. How about I take your number down and call you the minute I've got something?"  
"Yeah, that'd be helpful. Thanks, Miss Mars. By the way, how much will I end up owing you?"  
"$2500 per day. I know, it's expensive, but Mars Inc. really is the best."  
"Woah. I was at high school with a PI; she didn't charge anywhere near that much…" he began.  
"Well, she was a teenager, which would probably explain it. And of course, inflation has a lot to answer for." Veronica extended her right hand to shake his, "I'll be in touch."

Half an hour after Dan had left, Veronica glanced at the contact cards given to her. Simply designed, they declared her worst nightmares in bright black print: Wallace Fennel and Cindy Casablancas. She had heard from her father that Mac had married Dick, and there it was, confirmed. Quickly, Veronica looked at Dan's name again and confirmed what she had already worked out: Dan Nanucke could be reordered to read Duncan Kane. And, even worse, Hansel Cogoll read Logan Echolls. Fuck.

So, feedback, please?


	2. Chapter 2

Feel free to scroll down to actually read the next chapter. I just thought I'd show some gratitude for you reading this story first

Firstly– thanks a million to everyone who read and reviewed. Reading through all of them absolutely made it worth me not having just slept through the day. (when I first woke up this morning, I was very tempted. I kicked myself for actually going to school. I get home, read everything you wrote, and my day wasn't so bad after all. )

A couple of responses to those who were confused or something:  
**Thelma** -the idea was that Duncan knew it was her, and wanted her to come back to Neptune, yeah. Thanks for the review

**Basketballsuzie** – probably, yes, she would. I didn't really like writing her as being (marginally) stupid at not recognising him/herself, but that's the way it worked out. Thanks for the review – glad you liked it

**Mssexymixx** – I haven't decided who lilly's dad is yet, it could go either way… also, yes, Veronica was still attacked at Hearst, the only difference being that Mercer successfully raped her. (though at the moment, no-one knows about that…)

Quick disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even a dvd. (only two more months until my birthday, though… crosses fingers)

**Chapter Two**

Duncan arrived back at his hotel room just as his cell phone rang.  
"Hello?"  
"So you and Logan are friends again?"  
Duncan laughed, "Yeah. It took a while, but it happened."  
"How's Lilly, Duncan?" She smiled at the thought of a baby Lilly Kane.  
"She's… big. She's going to college in the fall," her said, thinking back to when Lilly had treated Veronica as her mother.  
"They grow up so fast. Anyway, who the hell is having a 30th birthday party?"  
Duncan laughed again, "Guess."  
"Madison Sinclair?"  
"Yeah. Though she's technically Madison Lamb now,"  
"Lamb as in the Sheriff?!"  
"Yep. Never woulda guessed, huh?"  
"Ew. I'm really invited?"  
"I know, it's shocking, isn't it? The invitation has a plus one, just… please don't bring a date. For both my and Logan's sakes," Duncan pleaded.  
"Okay. I have just the person in mind," she smiled to herself; her daughter was going to go insane. "Will you come by and give me the invitation tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, I'll see you first thing, Vee."

The next day, Duncan arrived at the Mars, Inc. office at nine o'clock once again. Immediately, he greeted Veronica with a tight embrace.  
"Hey, let me breathe a little!" she laughed.  
"Sorry, Vee. I don't want to let you go, just in case you pull another disappearing act, y'know?" He explained, only half joking.  
"Well, you found me once, you could find me again pretty easily, I'm sure."  
"You'd think, but I don't think Logan can last another sixteen years without you," he looked at his feet, embarrassed for his friend.  
"Yeah? If I remember Logan, he'll have had no problem moving on quicker than you can say "Get over it!"" she laughed, but was greeted with a sullen look.  
"You should know, 'Ronica, I'm practically dragging him to Madison's party. He doesn't know that I've found you, but I told him that showing up would be something you'd do for whatever reason. He agreed. So please, at least think about it," Duncan pleaded.  
"I wouldn't miss it. Are you taking your Lilly?"  
"I certainly am, I want her to meet you again," he smiled, ignoring the use of "your", which would ordinarily perplex him.  
"Great, I can't wait to meet her. So tell me, when and where is this get together?"  
"Neptiune. The address is on your invitation. The only worrying thing is that it's on Saturday. Sorry about the short notice, but you're a tricky person to find."  
"That's okay, I'm still as unpopular as I used to be. Prior engagements are non-existent. I guess I'll see you on Saturday. By the way, it was really, really good to see you again." She hugged him once more, then he slowly left, not wanting to let her out of his sight.

After he left, Veronica eyed the invite suspiciously. Pink and scented, it declared Madison's birthday part was at her parents' house – slightly unorthodox for a thirtieth birthday party, but knowing Madison, it was probably because the lighting there was better, and she would look thirty as opposed to thirty-six.

She broke the news to Lilly over dinner.  
"So Lil, do you have any plans for the weekend?"  
"Oh yeah, about that… Suzy and Sarah are having a party. I can go, right?" she beamed.  
"Wrong. I have a party to go to myself," she stated dramatically. Lilly laughed.  
"Yeah, right. Come on, Mom. No offence, but who would invite you to a party? You don't even know anyone!"  
"Someone I went to high school with is having a birthday party. You're invited, too. I was thinking we could make a long weekend out of it…"  
"Long weekend? Where is this party?"  
"California. Specifically, Neptune."  
"Do I get to see Grandpa whilst we're there?" Lilly asked eagerly.  
"Yeah. And you'll meet all the people I went to school with… I can tell you horrific stories about pretty much all of them. It'll be fun," she added, trying to make the trip even more of a positive.  
"Mom, you had me when you said 'Neptune'."  
"Great. Whilst I think about it, you really need to be careful about what you drink whilst you're there, okay?"  
Lilly rolled her eyes, "Yes, Mom. Can I go and outfit-plan now? Are we leaving on Friday?"  
"Yeah, I even booked us flights earlier."

The following day, Veronica completed her work in record time and cleared Friday of appointments. Rushing before the best shops closed, she quickly drove to the mall to buy a dress for Madison's party. Three shops in to her excursion, she spotted a black strapless knee-length dress, shaped but simple, elegant yet elaborate. She smiled, it was absolutely perfect. She knew that in a closet somewhere, she had the perfect pair of kitten heels to go with it, and her makeup was always easy.

Twenty-four hours later, a sense of deja-vu overwhelmed her. The receptionist at the Neptune Grande had told her that the only room left for the weekend was in fact, the Presidential Suite, and Veronica had no choice but to take it. After ten minutes inside the suite, Veronica was sure she had seen Logan fifteen times, and had to get out of there.  
"Kiddo, you want a tour of my town, or what?" she called out to Lilly.  
"I thought you'd never ask," Lilly grinned.  
Fifteen minutes later, Veronica Mars was sitting outside Neptune High, telling her daughter about some of the best times she'd had, "There was this one time, in my junior year. We had this awful 80s themed dance. My friend Meg dragged – literally, dragged – me there, to find out who her secret admirer was. The ironic thing was that it turned out to be my ex… God, you would've loved it here, Lil," Veronica sighed, thinking of Lilly Kane and how she'd ruled the school.  
"Then how come we moved away? And if it was so great, how come you never talk about your time here?"  
"I left Neptune for so many reasons, sweetie. And my years here weren't that great, if I'm entirely honest. After Lilly… I had a year and a half of being shunned and picked on. After that, I had a year of being popular or the most hated person in school, all depending on who was around that day," she shrugged.  
"Wait. Who's Lilly?"  
"Lilly was my best friend. Until she was murdered." The pair of sentences was so succinct, so short yet precise that it urged the listener to ask questions, yet also implored her not to.  
"I'm sorry, Mom," Lilly whispered, instead offering a hug.  
"Sweetie, I know I never told you, I'm sorry but that's only cause I was trying to forget and leave it behind. It didn't work, but I tried."  
"To be honest, I'd probably do the same… where are you gonna show me next?"  
"How about the Camelot? The hub of sordid infidelity, fugitives and all things illegal?"  
"Sounds… awesome!"  
Three minutes later, Veronica stopped the car. "There it is, Lilly."  
"It looks… nice. Any memories?"  
Veronica laughed, "Finding the town billionaire was having an affair with my mother. That's something I've never quite forgotten."  
"Ew. No wonder you left this place. I meant any good memories?"  
Veronica drifted away from reality, remembering the first kiss shared by Logan and herself. The passion, that explosive feeling, their later dates. Suddenly it had all come flooding back.  
"Seriously, mom, what was his name?" Lilly laughed, observing the far-off expression in her mother's eyes.

"Logan," Veronica whispered, suddenly both dreading and unable to wait for the following evening.  
"Ooh, he sounds hot. What happened?"  
"Long, painful story, sweetie. It includes cars being shot at, tracking devices, serial rapists…"  
Lilly looked shocked, "Suddenly, I'm sorta glad I didn't grow up here. Can you at least tell me how you met him?"  
"He was Lilly's boyfriend. We got together a year or so after she died," Veronica watched as her daughter visibly winced. "Don't look at me like that. Lilly had regularly cheated on him. And she would've wanted us to be happy."  
"Ohkay. I'm considering pointing out that you're not very happy, but I'll decide against it. Am I gonna meet this Logan some time? She asked, hopefully.  
"You certainly are. So I was thinking… next stop your grandpa's office?" Lilly grinned, excited at the prospect.  
"Yay! Will he mind us disturbing him at work?"  
"Nah, I can't think why. I'll probably end up doing a bunch of filing, anyway," Veronica laughed.  
"Fun," Lilly stated sarcastically.


	3. Chapter 3

**A quick notice:** there's more swearing in this chapter than the previous two. Sorry if it offends anyone. Also, thanks to everyone who reviews. I appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback so much. Thank you!!  
**Disclaimer**: I own nothing. Except for a computer to write on.  
**Shameless bribery:** I'll trade you some reviews for a chapter tomorrow. And the more reviews, the long the chapter will be. Just thought I'd throw that in there. ;) This is a fairly short chapter, (sorry about that) and fairly rushed… next chapter wayyyy better… if you review!

Chapter Three

"Dad?" Veronica called when she entered the Mars Investigations office.  
"Did I just hear my daughter?" Keith Mars rose from his chair, just in time to hear the response.  
"Yeah. Your granddaughter, too if you're lucky!" Before he knew it, he was smothered in hugs from his two favourite women.  
"Wait, Lilly, shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, puzzled.  
"Ah, well… I dropped out, and I've got a few nights off work so we figured we'd come visit," Lilly explained.  
"You dropped out? I see. Tell me about work."  
"It's good. I'm hoping to get promoted really soon. At the moment I'm just a stripper but I should get to be a pole dancer soon," Lilly giggled uncontrollably at the sight of her grandfather's face.  
"That was not funny."  
"Oh, I'm don't know, Dad. I'm pretty sure it was," Veronica retorted.  
"I can't believe you came all this way just to se me… wait, you come for that girl's party, didn't you?"  
"If I'm completely honest, does it stop you punishing me?"  
"No, it doesn't. The only thing stopping you being punished is that you're thirty six, Veronica. You know that Logan will be there?" he warned her.  
"Yeah. Duncan found me, Dad. You never told me how Logan was coping. Now I know why," she partially accused, though she knew it would fall on deaf ears.  
"Why now, Veronica?"  
"God, Dad, it's not such a big deal, y'know. It's mainly cause I wanna see the people who were my friends. I haven't seen Wallace in sixteen years and I miss him. And Mac. And maybe Logan a little bit. Can you please just imagine Madison and Lamb's faces? That's worth it in itself, to me.  
"Ooooh, I'd forgotten about him. Take a picture, please," Keith smiled briefly. "Veronica, you're old enough to make your own decisions. I just want to be sure that you've thought this through entirely… they'll ask questions, you know."  
"I know, and I'm ready for them all. I got everything covered, okay?" Veronica smiled widely, trying and only partly convincing her dad. Keith sighed, realizing that it was not a battle he was going to win.  
"Maybe you're right. I hope for your sake that you are," he paused. "Anyone hungry? I could really use a pizza right now."  
Lilly raised her hand, "Ditto. How about me and mom go buy a couple and bring them back?"  
Keith nodded, "Definitely. Veronica, I'm gonna call Cliff and tell him to come down here. He'd kill me if I didn't alert him to your presence," he laughed.

"You're not making me go, Duncan. There is absolutely no way," Logan protested, adamantly.  
"Come on, Logan. What's the worst that could happen?"  
"_She_ could be there…with someone," the muttered reply came, darkly.  
"Logan, seriously. What are the odds that she'd have a date to a party she doesn't even know about?" Duncan laughed.  
"What if Wallace or Cindy found her, DK? Did you think of that?"

"I checked; they haven't. And anyway, imagine if she's there, alone. Would that be so bad?" Duncan responded quickly, guiltily.  
"I guess not. Ugh, you win, but only because it'll shut you up. If the party sucks, though, I'm leaving," Logan decided glaring at his friend.  
"Dude, if the party sucks, I'm leaving with you. Now, find yourself a suit and go make yourself look pretty," Duncan pushed his friend towards his walk-in closet, and returned to his living room where he could wait for Logan to be ready.

Veronica and Lilly took over three hours to get ready: Lilly showered, dried and styled her hair dressed in a bathrobe. Then, she began the task of picking out which of her outfits she was going to wear (she'd brought three). Veronica, similarly showered, dried and styled her hair, creating curls around her face and tying the rest in the nape of her neck. She began putting eyeliner and mascara on, using the same idea as she had when she was back in college. She shuddered, realising that the last party she had been to was in fact, the Pi Sigma Sigma event, and look at how well that had gone. Lilly tried on her green, red and white dresses, unable to decide between them. It took her an hour to finally decide upon the soft white spaghetti-strapped dress.

Both the Mars women entered the living area of their suite at the same time. They looked at each other and gasped.  
"Mom, you look… young."  
"Yeah? You look… scarily like I did when I was your age," Veronica retorted, noticing the resemblance between her own appearance at Shelly Pomroy's party, twenty years ago, and her daughter standing in front of her.  
"That's… weird. Let's go," Lilly demanded, not wanting to think that there was a time her mother had looked like she had.

It took about twenty minutes to get to Madison's parents' house, due to the number of cars all headed there. Veronica presented the invitation to the doorman hired for the evening, and cast him a smile as they entered. Lilly clung to her mother, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the number of thirty year olds acting like the lavish affair were a perfectly normal, every day thing to do. Veronica smiled as she felt her daughter's arm loop around her own as she scanned the nameless faces for one she recognised. She walked around a lap of the house, to no avail.  
"Mom, can I go get a drink?" Lilly asked, her voice only just audible over the blend of music.  
"Sure. If you can't find me again within ten minutes, I'll head towards the bar and meet you there," Veronica smiled, knowing that she would probably end up needing to find her lost daughter.  
"Okay, see you in a few," Lilly beamed as she fought her way through the crowd to the bar, "Diet coke, please," she asked the bartender as soon as she got there.  
"Aaah, another under-21! I was beginning to think I was the only one," a voice came from behind her. Lilly turned to speak to the voice.  
"Oh thank God, someone nearer my age than my mom's. I'm Lilly," she said, with a wave.  
"Weirdly, so am I. Lilly Kane," she laughed, "Who did you come here with?"  
"My mom… one Veronica Mars. You don't know her, or anyone who does know her, do you?" Lilly asked, hopefully. The other girl looked shifty for a couple of seconds before regaining her composure.  
"My dad does. He'll probably be over here in a minute, with my Uncle Logan. My dad is trying to stop him drinking his pain away…"  
"You have an Uncle Logan?" she wondered how common the name was in this town.  
"Yeah. He's not actually my uncle, just my dad's best friend," the other Lilly shrugged, then seemed to look through Lilly with a smile of recognition, "Hey, Daddy."  
"Hey, yourself. You've found a friend, I see," Duncan replied to his daughter.  
"Yeah. This is Lilly, Lilly Mars." Lilly turned to see Duncan process the information, and saw the stunned look on his face.  
"Woah. Okay, she didn't mention that. Hi, Lilly. I'm Duncan, I went to school with your mom," he smiled, tightly.  
"How do you know? I could be the child of a different Mars," she protested. Duncan laughed, and spoke quietly to the young Mars.  
"Lilly was my sister. That's who my daughter is named after and I'm guessing who you're named after, too. Oh, and you look scarily like her. Where is she, anyway?"  
Lilly shrugged, "Probably on her way over here, I abandoned her looking for people she knew when we were outside…" she watched as Duncan paled.

"Shit. I was in the backyard with Logan… he walked off and told me he'd me back here in a few minutes. This is potentially bad, trust me."

Veronica watched towards the row of trees in the Sinclairs' backyard. She didn't hear the footsteps behind her, and jumped slightly when she heard the voice behind her.  
"Hey, Ronnie."


	4. Chapter 4

Right, here we are: one rather long chapeter four. I hope you enjoy it. It flicks around quite a lot but that's how my mind works, it seems. You know the drill: review and you'll get another chapter quicker, 'cause I'll write some more. Thanks to the twenty or so people who reviewed last chapter. I logged into hotmail this morning and saw them all in my inbox. You made this writer a very happy writer. big grin  
**Disclaimer: **i own nothing. which is unfortunate.

**_Chapter Four_**

It had been years since Veronica had been called Ronnie, and even longer since she had been called Ronnie with the same undertones of hatred and betrayal. She turned around, half surprised to see him, even though she had known she was only at this horrific display of wealth to see him.

"Logan," she practically breathed his name.  
"You remember my name? I thought you'd probably have forgotten after you left without a word," the words came out even angrier than he meant them.  
"It's not as if I owed you an explanation, Logan," she protested, simultaneously wondering how this man always managed to get a reaction of some kind out of her.  
"You could never owe me a thing, Veronica. Mainly because you wouldn't let me close to you," he accused, rashly.  
"…_you_ broke up with _me_, Logan, not the other way round!"  
"Oh, right. And you think that was going to be a permanent thing?"  
"You know, after a couple of months, I was beginning to think it was, yeah," she stared at her feet, the agonising pain she had felt during the months after their break up returning to taunt her. Logan didn't miss the sorrowful glance, and immediately felt a mixture of remorse and guilt wave through him.  
"Veronica," he whispered, "I loved you. I always had, it was never going to be permanently over for us. But now, that's all changed," he brushed her cheek and forced her to look at him, and the regret inside his eyes.  
"I know. I heard you got married, is she here?" She lied, in an attempt to find out if he had brought a date.  
"Me, married? Hell no, Mars. You evidently suck at the spy thing in your old age," he held up his left hand, "See? No ring," he paused. "What about you? Did you bring anyone with you?" The question returned Veronica to her motherly instincts immediately.  
"Oh, shit! I abandoned her. I'll… see you later?" she asked somewhat hopefully.  
"Yeah. Unless you do another runner," He responded without missing a beat. Veronica looked guilty about her departure sixteen years ago, until Logan put her at ease. "Relax, Ronnie. I was kidding."  
Veronica smiled at Logan before leaving him in the relative peace, making her way back to the house.

"Superfly? Is it really you?" Lilly Mars looked at the guy jogging towards her.  
"Do I… know you?" she asked, completely confused.  
"Do you know me? You know you do, Vee. You're kidding, right? How could you forget your BFF?!" He waved his hands in front of her face, trying to get a reaction.  
"Vee? I'm Lilly. And I have no idea who you are. Go away and leave me alone, or I'll have to uh…get my little friend out…" she surreptitiously slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out her thirteenth birthday present. A taser.  
"Well, shit me! Superfly had a daughter?" Wallace laughed when he saw the taser, "Yo, where's your mom?"  
"Outside. She should be here any minute…" Lilly contemplated putting her taser away for a minute, but felt rather uncomfortable being questioned by this man who claimed to know her mother. She held it tightly, her hand on the trigger.  
"Can I sit and chat with you until she comes back?" he grinned, bright white teeth shining at her.  
"Um. I guess. Who are you, again?"  
"Wallace Fennel. Your mom ever mention me?" he looked hopeful.  
"Nah. I don't really know anything about what she was like at high school," she flashed an apologetic smile, "it's nothing personal, I'm sure. I mean, I only heard about her friend Lilly yesterday. Turns out I'm named after her," Lilly shrugged.  
"Yeah, your mom always was kinda secretive. She didn't even tell me what she'd done when she'd put a bong in Logan's locker; she just made me watch the results," he laughed at the memory.  
"My mom knows what a _bong_ is? That's actually quite scarring. Tell me more about her," she demanded, grateful that this guy seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to her mother.  
"She was the toughest girl in school. Not physically, mentally. After everything she'd been through, then what her friends put her through… but out of everyone in that school, she was the nicest to me. This is another story completely, but my first day at Neptune High, I started off taped, naked, to a flag pole. Every one took pictures, laughed, y'know what high school is like. I saw this one tiny blonde girl walk up to me, take a knife outta her pocket and suddenly, I was free. A bunch of people booed at her, she just smiled and goes, "Go Pirates!"" he exclaimed, putting on a voice more like Veronica's. Lilly laughed; even now she could imagine her mother doing this exact thing. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and her mother's voice speak from behind her.  
"Wallace, you appear to have met my daughter. Lilly, this is Wallace…your grandpa dated his mom," she beamed at them both. They replied simultaneously,  
"Grandpa dated?! Ew!"  
"Ugh, did you have to remind me?"  
Veronica laughed, "You know I did, Papa Bear. And yes, Lilly. Your grandpa dated. A very long time ago. It was… hideous," she laughed again.  
"Yeah, if you hadn't have brought it up, I woulda done," Wallace cracked a grin. "Anyway, we have more important things to discuss… Like the fact that you didn't tell me you had a daughter!"  
"Ah, yeah… Um, sorry," Veronica managed to get in before Wallace started ranting.  
"Now, I'm guessing this must've happened… fifteen years ago, give or take, which means that we were still in college. Which means you probably decided that Hearst wasn't such a great place to raise a kid. But what about us, Vee? I mean… we woulda helped, y'know? We could've done it."  
"Fennel, I love you but can I have this lecture later?" Veronica pleaded, knowing that Madison's party was really not the place for this conversation, especially not in front of everyone.  
Wallace sniffed, "Yeah, alright. But you know, the second Mac finds out about Lilly… you're gonna be in trouble, Superfly," he smiled a superficial smile. "Lilly, how old are you?"  
"Sixteen years, three weeks and two days," she said, barely pausing to work it out exactly.  
"Veronica Mars, you've made me miss out on sixteen years, three weeks and two days of being 'Uncle Wallace'! How cruel!" he exclaimed, melodramatically. A sullen voice interrupted their conversation.  
"Ronnie's always been cruel, haven't you? Usually she keeps people at arm's length. Or she'll let you in for a week, then push you away again. She'll have you thinking she loves you, that you have a chance… then she'll disappear," he clicked his fingers together, "Snap. And she's gone."  
"Logan…" Veronica started, expecting World War III to break out. Instead, he turned his gaze to her, then to Lilly, then back again.  
"Shit, I didn't realize I'd had that much to drink… I'm seeing double. Wait… you're wearing different clothes. Ronnie, when did you get a twin?" His slurring declared his inebriation, a fact that Veronica hoped to use to her advantage.  
"Logan, this is Lilly. My daughter," she winced as she said the words, half wishing she'd been able to see, "our daughter".  
"Good one! I know you said you weren't married, and Mr Mars would never let you have a kid without you marrying the father first," he said laughing. Veronica and Lilly laughed along with him, before he stopped abruptly.  
"Logan, can I get you a drink?" Veronica offered, hoping it would distract him.  
"Yeah, uhhh… double vodka cranberry," he smiled. Veronica quickly ordered for him, without mentioning the 'double' and a screwdriver for herself. When she turned around, Logan was busy talking at Wallace and her daughter looked bored.  
"Sweetie, can you chat to Logan whilst I talk to Wallace briefly? I want my lecture over as quickly as possible," Veronica smiled optimistically.  
"Yeah. You were right about him, he's hot," Lilly grinned back, "Oh, and I take it that if he asks, I'm your cousin?"  
"You got it. Thanks, sweetie," Veronica then turned her attention back to Logan and Wallace. "Logan, Logan. Can I steal Wallace from you for a few minutes? I know I'm stealing the person you're talking with, but Lilly's bored… feel free to entertain her."

Veronica dragged Wallace to an empty bedroom and sat down on the king sized bed that sprawled in front of her.  
"Should I, uh, get Mac for this little… harangue?" He asked her immediately.  
"Oooh, goody! Both of you are gonna shout at me, not just one of you?" Veronica retorted, sarcastically.  
"What, you thought we'd just accept you back here immediately, with no word from you for well over sixteen years? You were being delusional when you thought that, Vee." His response inspired a well thought-out sigh.  
"If you're getting Mac… you might as well get Duncan, too," she informed him. He looked puzzled so she clarified, "Duncan Kane? The one who came to see me on Wednesday?"  
"Yeah, yeah, I know who he is… you want him here, too? What for?"  
"He was the one who came to Seattle. I forgot to mention Lilly… he's going to torture me for it, too," she explained.  
"Fine."

"So, Lilly. Lilly, Lilly, Lilly," Logan began, wondering what to say.  
"How do you know Veronica?" She asked, having observed Logan's longing look as her mother had left them.  
"We, uh… dated. A long time ago. She uh, broke my heart," he said, stammering. It was rare for him to address the mess that Veronica had left him as, and usually he was drunk and ended up in tears.  
"Did she? I'm sorry, that's harsh. What did she do?"  
"After we broke up, she just disappeared. Never said a word."  
"Jeeze. She broke up with you and then just left?"  
"Not exactly. I uh, broke up with her. Then she vanished two months later," he nearly started sobbing into his drink at the very thought of it.  
"So, how'd she break your heart?" Lilly asked, bemused. The drunken man made no sense.  
"I guess… I never saw the break up as a permanent thing. I knew that I'd always love her, and it would never fade. I've always said our love would be epic."  
"Epic?"  
"Yeah. Spanning years and continents; lives ruined and blood shed epic," he smiled, "I know, it was stupid, looking back it was one of my stupidest beliefs that I've stuck with. I mean, she went and had a kid, for Christ sakes." He watched her reaction to his surprisingly coherent speech.  
"Do you need another drink?" Lilly offered as Logan seemed to have sobered up, way too fast.  
"Nah, I'm good. I knew there was something – or someone – in here when I met Duncan outside, trying to stop me coming in. Then I saw you sitting next to Ronica, and put two and two together: DK tried to stop me seeing you, because you're her daughter and he didn't want me to react badly. I figured that she'd try to placate me, even if I wasn't angry, and tell me anything to make me go away. So, I decided if she thought I was drunk, she'd leave me with you, and hope I believed that you're her cousin," he smiled at her, "I may have nearly flunked my Weightlifting class at college, but I'm not stupid." Lilly laughed.  
"There's an actual weightlifting class? I'm assuming it's really just a dating organization for athletes?" she checked.  
"Yeah. Athletes, rich kids. Either, really," he smiled, "Your mom always laughed at me for having it in my schedule, too."  
"Why'd you break up with her, Logan?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.  
"Honestly? It was an attempt to get her to stop investigating the Hearst rapist. I thought it was too dangerous, she was stubborn and felt some kind of duty. She wouldn't let me get involved, then she accused one of my closest friends…" he began, before Lilly cut him off.  
"She thought one of your friends was a rapist? Didn't she trust your judgement?" Lilly was inexplicably outraged.  
"That's what I thought. I just ended up feeling so… out of the loop. I remember the only time she let on that she loved me… we were in my hotel room; we'd just had a row. I asked her if she even loved me. She couldn't even look at me, hesitated then says "yeah," in the most non-committal way. That's when I knew it was over, I think. The next day, we broke up," he shrugged, hoping that the nonchalant action would somehow make him seem unaffected by the events.  
"Did she stop investigating the rapes?" Lilly asked, though she knew the answer. Logan laughed.  
"Hell no. She threw herself into it further. She ended up being dosed with GHB, and nearly raped. But she caught him," Logan was unable to hide the pride in his voice.  
"Did she apologise for wrongly accusing your friend?" Lilly inquired, genuinely concerned about her mother's manners.  
"Nah. I forced her into proving his innocence, and he ended up having done it all, he tried to rape her, he beat the shit out of her…" Logan began.  
"Ah. She's not the easiest person to be around when she's proved right, is she?" she smiled.  
"Um… we never actually spoke again," he observed the look on Lilly's face, "Yeah, I know. I just didn't know what to say… there was nothing I could say to make her feel better. It's my fault that the whole thing happened."  
"She's made mistakes, too; she'd have forgiven you, Logan. I guess it doesn't really matter anymore, anyway," she sighed.  
"Nah. Anyway, what I'm more interested in right this moment is you. How old are you, where've you been living, where's your dad? The whole nine yards," he demanded, glad that he had the chance to ask about her.

"So, Veronica, do you have any valid excuses as to why you ran away, not telling us you were pregnant, not saying goodbye, even?" Mac started, spurring Wallace to start talking, too.  
"Yeah, Vee. I thought we were tight. I know we have other friends now, too, but what the heck happened to us being BFF? I know we had the whole don't ask-don't tell thing goin' but… it did not apply to you doing a runner just cause you didn't want us to find out about you being pregnant." There was a brief pause before Duncan joined in.  
"Ronica, what were you thinking? You left without telling anyone where you were, they were worried sick," Veronica cut him off.  
"No, Duncan, you can't lecture me. You weren't there, which I know isn't you fault, but you can't berate me for that. Wallace… I know, we told each other the important stuff. And Mac, I'm sorry. But it's not like I was any fun anyway! I didn't want to ruin your time at college just because I was stupid enough to get pregnant," she sighed, knowing that shortly she'd have to address the issue of her daughter's father.  
"Oh no, you can't just hide behind excuses like that. You weren't doing it to save us from the burden. You did it for you, no one else, like you always do," Wallace accused.  
"Did you even tell Logan, Veronica? He deserved to know he was going to be a father," the three thought they knew the answer, but nothing prepared them for what came out of Veronica's mouth.  
"You know I didn't tell him… and Lilly might not be his," she winced, waiting for the looks of horror from her old friends.  
"You cheated on Logan? How could you, Veronica?" Mac was the first to speak, the only one able to process what she'd just heard.  
"Logan broke up with me, remember? I didn't cheat, I could never do that to him," she confirmed.  
"Okay, you had a rebound hook-up… With who? Does he know?" the interrogator became Wallace once more.  
"It's not important who it was with, okay? And no. He doesn't know either," Veronica stared at her feet, panicking. For sixteen years, she had kept her secret; she never wanted to change that.  
"Veronica, I for one am not letting you leave this room until you tell us. We're your friends, Veronica, despite the fact that you pulled that disappearing stunt. Okay?" Duncan moved so that he had blocked the door.  
"Why didn't you do a blood test, V? You have the connections, surely? You coulda sneakily stolen some of this other guy's blood, pretended you were into some sorta kinky shit. Hell, you coulda tried it on Logan, too," Wallace tried to reason with her, to no avail.  
"You're right. I could've done. But I didn't want to know, in case she wasn't Logan's," Veronica admitted.  
"It's not like you'd loved her any less if she wasn't Logan's, Vee. I never loved Meg, I only had eyes for you. But that doesn't stop me loving my Lilly, does it?" Tears rolled down Veronica's cheeks; she was going to have to come clean.  
"Mercer," she whispered the name, her reflex reaction causing her to shudder; she could feel his hands on her, him penetrating her, him making her more damaged, more tainted. They stared at her in stunned silence, Mac and Wallace wondering why she had never told them, Duncan wondering who Mercer was and what exactly he had done.  
"You never told us, you never told the sheriff… did you even tell your dad, Superfly?" Wallace didn't really know why he'd used the nickname, he put it down to his wanting to put her at ease.  
"Yeah, he knew. Why'd you think Logan is still living? I don't think I could deal with knowing that she is definitely _his_. But… I have some hope that she's Logan's, and that's good enough for me. At the time, if I had asked him for a paternity test… that would be the end, one way or the other. He'd try and put himself back in jail to kill Mercer for raping me, or decide he couldn't deal with being a father – and he'd just broken up with me… then after I'd left… well, I couldn't just come back and demand a test then, could I?" Her thoughts, her insecurities of her relationship with Logan prevented all three from berating her further. Instead, Mac picked herself up from one corner of the bed, and held Veronica in a tight hug.

"There's not a lot to tell. I have no history befriending rapists, or any encounters at the nearby motel to retell. Basically, I'm Lilly Lianne Mars, I turned sixteen three weeks ago. I've always lived with my mom; I've never met my father – so far that's worked out pretty well for us. This is my first trip to Neptune, mom showed me around the key "sights" earlier," Logan pretty much stopped listening after he heard her age. She was sixteen, just. His high-school level math told him that it was likely that he was staring his daughter in the face.  
"What do you know about encounters at the motel?" His eyes narrowed; he could only remember one real encounter with her mother at the motel: a kiss, a meeting of passion, a momentary thing… and then it was gone. It was hardly a newsworthy event.  
"I don't actually know what happened, don't worry. My mom showed me the Camelot… she got the clichéd far off look in her eyes, like the one you got just then… she said it involved you. She also said you were hot, which by the way, you totally are," she smiled, charisma oozing from her perfectly white teeth.  
"I can tell why she called you Lilly," he smiled – the perfect, the cheekiness and the sweet talk had been a Lilly trademark. "But yeah, I know when she was thinking of… what are you doing tomorrow, Miss Mars? I don't really do much so you can have a _real_ tour of Neptune."  
"I'm not doing anything… that'd be nice, thanks. Can my mom come, too?" she asked with confidence that he would agree. He laughed.  
"Whenever she reappears, I'll ask… I need to speak with her about… the past," he said, looking forward to his conversation with Veronica.  
"Why, you gonna try and resolve all the issues you've carried with you since she left?" she laughed.  
"Yeah, actually," he smiled, amazed that Lilly had not yet put two and two together.

Veronica returned, observing her daughter laughing and talking happily with Logan. _"Just how it should've been, Veronica,_" she told herself. She noticed Logan look up when she got closer, and saw the un-glassy look in his eye, immediately realising she had been duped. She remained sauntering towards them, regardless and greeted them both. The faux-drunk Logan hugged her sloppily, and whispered quietly into her ear.  
"We need to talk about my daughter."  
"'Kay," she replied meekly, after sixteen years, she still did not trust herself around Logan Echolls.  
"I'm gonna need another drink for this, so I'll meet you outside in a few minutes," he told her, deliberately not checking whether or not this suited her; she'd had over sixteen years to pick a day to tell him, but she hadn't.  
"Sure. Hey, Logan… get me a screwdriver?" her request left him looking at her quizzically. "The drink," she clarified.  
She walked outside, towards the far end of the yard, covered by trees. There, confident that she wasn't going to be overheard she began to rehearse what she was going to say to Logan.  
_"So, here's the thing. I didn't tell you that I was pregnant because you'd broken up with me and she might not actually be yours. I didn't want to inconvenience for no reason… no, no. Hey, Logan, I know you just said she's your daughter, but to be honest I'm not sure that she is. Hmm. Perhaps not… Logan, I know that you're angry and you think she's your daughter, but it's possible she's not. I'm not saying that I want you to have a blood test to prove you are, and then you can be let into her life. Logistically, we live in Seattle and you live here… I don't want my daughter having really high hopes about getting a dad only for you not to be her father, or for you to realise that you live too far away for it to be practical." _

Veronica stopped abruptly as soon as she saw Logan walking in her direction, two drinks in his hands. His brow was creased into a tight frown; to most observers, it would seem that he was concentrating on not spilling his drinks. Veronica knew better, he was organising his argument and planning what he was going to say. Finally, he joined her and handed her the drink in his left hand. He watched incredulously as she pulled a drinks tester out of her bag, dip it in her drink and then check for any colour change. Satisfied, she thanked the man standing opposite her, who stared, mouth agape.  
"Please tell me that's not one of those things from that college party?" Veronica laughed at the suggestion.  
"No, of course not. I borrowed one from my daughter especially for this little get-together."  
"You make your daughter use these? God, how over-protective are you? She's in high school, who would spike her drink?!" he nearly shouted, worrying about his daughter being classified a loser because of Veronica's paranoia.  
"Hmmm. Good point, what would make someone do that, especially in high school? I know, let's ask guilty party number one: Logan Echolls," she glared at him, angry because he had criticised her parenting skills and because he had forgotten what high school was like for popular kids.  
"That was a long time ago, Veronica. I'm sorry that Beaver… y'know. If he hadn't jumped that night, I would've ended up seriously hurting him for doing that to you, y'know," Logan assured her, darkly.  
"I know. All I'm saying is that so far, my little girl hasn't been raped. I don't know whether she uses them or not, I'd just… like to think that if I can protect her," Veronica blushed, her devotion to her daughter temporarily embarrassing her.  
"Had you thought of just giving her a taser?" Logan joked.  
"Oh, she didn't introduce you to Mr Sparky?" Veronica retorted quickly.  
"You gave _my _daughter a taser?!"  
"_Your_ daughter? No no no. _My_ daughter, Logan. Up until half an hour ago, you didn't know she existed," Veronica glared as she spat the words.  
"Oh right, and that's my fault, I guess?" he asked, "You deliberately hid my daughter from me, then object when I call her mine because I had no idea she even existed. God, Veronica, do you even hear yourself?"  
"The problem is, Logan… she might not be _your_ daughter." At first, Logan thought he had misheard, but the words echoed around his brain making them undeniably clear.  
"You screwed someone else behind my back? I don't believe this, you traced my cell phone because you were being paranoid and then you fuck around whilst we were together! Who was it?" he demanded.  
"I didn't cheat. It happened after you broke up with me," she declared, defiantly.  
"_That's_ your defence? Seriously, Veronica… After everything, I can't believe you did that to me."  
"Did you even hear what I said?"  
"Yeah. You had a cheap rebound fuck one night and then fled because you realised how hypocritical you'd been about not trusting me. I guess I was right about you in high school. You really are a whore." Every word dripped with venom, and Veronica could feel her eyes welling up with tears as she watched Logan turn to saunter back inside.

"Logan… I'm sorry," she called after him. His knee-jerk reaction whenever the tiny blonde creature called his name was to give her his full attention. This was no exception. He turned around, and she carried on speaking, "I know that you need an explanation for both me leaving and for turning up sixteen years later, with a daughter. I know that, okay? But right now… I can't say all the words you want me to hear. I'll be around tomorrow, so come over and we'll talk."  
"Okay, fine. I'll ask Lilly where you're staying, though. I may have only met her today, but I already trust her more than I trust you, _Ronnie_," he turned away again, despair and contempt rippling over him simultaneously.

okay, so no cliffhanger-y ending. Sorry about that, I didn't really manage to end the chapter in my mind before I ran out of time before I had to get off the computer etc.


End file.
